The police arrested 12 people in the Netherlands for involvement in the production and export of drugs to Scandinavia. A 13th suspect was arrested in Peer, Belgium. The suspects are 12 men and a woman between the ages of 32 and 16 years. They were arrested on Monday, but the police only announced the arrests on Thursday.
The police searched buildings in Utrecht, Vleuten, Woerden, Maarssen, Houten, Almere, Waardenburg, Lopikerkapel and Aalsmeer.
Parts of the Randstad area got more rain on Wednesday than usually falls in the entire month of September. Between 40 and 70 millimeters of rain fell in Zuid-Holland, Noord-Holland and Utrecht on Tuesday, according to Weeronline. Nieuwkoop got a massive 130 mm or rain.
The provinces of Noord-Holland, Zuid-Holland and Utrecht were faced with heavy rainfall on Wednesday. The A20 to Rotterdam had to be closed for several hours due to flooding. Streets in various places were also under water, NU.nl reports.
Public works department Rijkswaterstaat closed the A20 highway at the Kleinpolderplein junction around 11:00 a.m. because the road surface was under water to such an extent that it was unsafe to drive over it. The highway was reopened around 1:15 p.m.
A few hundred train passengers spent over five hours stuck on a train between Woerden and Gouda on Wednesday. The train came to a stop when the overhead line suddenly broke, part of it landing on the front of the train. The train lost power, and the passengers were left stranded with nothing to eat or drink, NU.nl reports.
Road users should expect a very busy rush hour on Monday morning. No train traffic is possible on one of the busiest routes in the country, due to maintenance work that is taking longer than expected. And rain and wind will only add to the problems.
Seven men were arrested on Tuesday in connection with the discovery of 2,500 kilograms of hemp in a container of charcoal at the port of Rotterdam in July, the Public Prosecutor announced on Thursday.
The hemp was hidden in a shipment of charcoal that arrived at the port from Nigeria on July 18th. Customs officers discovered the drugs with the help of a container scan and a sniffer dog, according to the Prosecutor. The hemp was removed from the container and destroyed, and the container was sent to its destination.
A death threat directed at Woerden mayor Victor Molkenboer was spray-painted on the Hollandbaan in Woerden. The text, which also declares war on the police and mayor, was signed "regards drug dealers", according to RTV Utrecht.
"Molkenboer retirement or death", the text read. And: "You will burn."
One person was buried under rubble when part of the former Woerden town hall collapsed during demolition work on Friday morning. The person's condition is unclear. So far the fire department couldn't make contact, a spokesperson for the local safety office Veiligheidsregio Urecht said to NU.nl.
Rescuers can't start searching for the victim, due to the risk of collapse. Specialists are on their way to assess the situation.
According to ANP, the second floor collapsed during sawing work and it took the first floor with it.
IJsselstein in Utrecht was voted the best fortress in the Netherlands. Valkenburg came in a far second place, followed by Enkhuizen and Woerden.
The joint Woerden faction of Christian parties ChristenUnie and SGP are protesting against former porn star Bobbi Eden opening the town's annual festival. Chairman Simon Brouwer thinks it inappropriate to use a subsidy to bring the porn actress to the town.
Fifteen of the 18 men suspected if storming the asylum center in Woerden in October last year, were sentenced to community service by the court in Utrecht on Wednesday, according to reporter Marco Gerling tweeting live from within the courtroom.
The suspects who stormed the asylum center in Woerden in October last year, coordinated the attack using a WhatsApp group, the Public Prosecutor revealed in the court in Utrecht on Wednesday. Eighteen suspects are appearing in court, three at a time, on Wednesday and Thursday.
Eighteen suspects are appearing in court on Wednesday and Thursday in connection with a violent attack on an emergency asylum shelter in Woerden in October last year
The police once again had their hands full with burglaries over the Christmas days. Numerous burglars were arrested across the Netherlands between December 24th and December 26th and many more burglaries were reported, though there was not a remarkable increase in the number of burglaries compared to the same period in previous years.
Travelers organization Rover received a record number of 3,600 complaints about overcrowded trains this month. Travelers are upset that they have to pay high traveling fees and then have to face a shortage in seats
Three more people have been arrested in connection with the attack on the emergency refugee shelter in Woerden earlier this month.
An attack on an emergency refugee center in Woerden on Friday night has led to the arrest of 11 suspects. A group of around 20 people, wearing balaclavas, bombarded the refugee center with eggs and fireworks and broke down the fencing surrounding the shelter.
Campaigners over the weekend slandered the proposed intake of refugees with defamatory banners and slogans at railways stations in the cities of Montfoort and Woerden. The incident saw banners with the words like, ‘No refugees’ and ‘f**k off to your own country’ plastered over railway station windows and walls. Woerden Mayor Victor Molkenboer finds these actions deplorable.
Sjaak Rijke is finally back home in Woerden, RTV Utrecht reports based on reliable sources in Woerden.
"As everyone will understand, I am overjoyed to be free again after more than three years and I eagerly look forward to the reunion with my family, friends and colleagues." Sjaak Rijke says in a statement released via the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, NOS reports.
Sjaak Rijke, held hostage by an Al-Qaida faction for three and a half years, was reunited with his wife on Wednesday at the Bamako airport in Mali. "They shouted for joy," Dutch ambassador Maarten Brouwer told RTL.
The French army has released footage showing Sjaak Rijke having a meal with some soldiers after being freed from an Al-Qaeda linked group in Mali yesterday. He is smiling and eating and seems to be doing well.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs announced yesterday that researchers have found bird flu in wild ducks near Kamerik in Woerden. They found the very contagious H5 type in two samples of droppings.
A road worker was killed in an accident on the A12 at Woerden this morning. Another road worker was seriously injured. They were hit by a truck. The truck driver was also seriously injured.
